Sen. Bartolotta wins Republican primary, while Rep. Cook defeated by GOP challenger
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta beat her GOP challenger in Tuesday’s primary, while state Rep. Bud Cook lost his seat to a political newcomer in his Republican race.
With nearly all precincts reporting, Bartolotta held a lead of 53% to 47% lead over Al Buchtan in her only primary challenge she has faced since first winning election in 2014.
The campaign between Bartolotta, R-Carroll, and Buchtan, who is a construction company owner from Cumberland Township, featured a barrage of political commercials and mailers from outside groups lobbing attacks at each other. But Bartolotta brushed aside those assaults to hold onto her party’s nomination.
“I’m very happy about it. My opponent wasn’t Al Buchtan, It was Pace-O-Matic,” Bartolotta said of the games of skill machine manufacturer that pumped money into the race in an attempt to oust her. “Outside, out-of-state gambling money wanted to interfere and buy a senate seat, and we weren’t going to have it. It was great to have so many folks set up and set out.”
She pointed specifically to the onslaught of mailers from Citizens Alliance political group targeting her with money from the skills game industry trying to sway the race.
“I think they were just desperate,” Bartolotta said. “They just kept sending junk out there to see what would stick. All of the mailers that went out.”
Buchtan said in a phone interview Tuesday night he was not upset with the results and felt like he and his team ran a good campaign.
“I’m not sad, at all. I think we did a great job for the amount of money we had,” Buchtan said. “It’s tough to win, but we accomplished a lot of things. I believe we changed the dynamics of how things were done. … Unfortunately, we came up short. I’m happy we ran a good campaign. We had a lot of people helping us.”
Bartolotta, who is running for her fourth term in office, is now expected to face Democrat Evan Snyder of Nottingham Township in the Nov. 3 general election after he ran unopposed in his primary.
Buchtan led Bartolotta in Greene County, but she took a large lead in her home county of Washington, both with mail-in ballots and election day voting. The 46th State Senate District includes all of Washington and Greene counties, along with the southern sliver of Beaver County.
While the incumbent Bartolotta won her primary, the other Republican legislator on the ballot lost his.
Cook, R-West Pike Run, lost to his GOP challenger Ben Humble by a 55% to 45% margin in the 50th State House District that includes all of Greene County and parts of the Mon Valley in Washington County. The five-term incumbent first won election to office in 2016 in what was then the 49th District that includes Washington and Fayette counties.
Humble thanked the community and his campaign team while celebrating with his supporters at a watch party in his hometown of Waynesburg.
“I couldn’t be more grateful to the community showing up and really trusting me to move forward,” Humble said. I got to give it to my team. Everyone worked so hard. We stayed true to ourselves by not running negative ads or being negative ads on Facebook. We were faith driven and community based.”
The project manager at Humble Flooring and Decorating Center and Waynesburg Borough council president said he planned to “take a few days off and get back to work” as he now faces a general election race against Democrat Lois Bower-Bjornson of North Bethlehem Township, who ran unopposed.
“We want to finish strong and put the community in the forefront,” Humble said. “We did this as a big team and that’s something I never want to forget.”
Cook did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday night.
In the only competitive Democratic primary in this area, Dylan Altemara appeared to be cruising to victory, leading fellow Elizabeth resident Kellianne Frketic by a 64% to 36% margin for the 39th House District seat that includes mid-Mon Valley communities in Allegheny and Washington counties. The winner will then face Republican state Rep. Andrew Kuzma of Elizabeth in the general election.